Hi everyone, I’ve been using Home Assistant on a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B for about two months now, and it’s been a fantastic experience integrating various smart devices and services. However, I’ve recently encountered an issue that’s been quite frustrating—connection drops to Home Assistant. The interface becomes unavailable, and I can’t even SSH into the Pi. Sometimes it recovers on its own after a few minutes, but other times it requires a hard reboot.
Setup Details:
- Raspberry Pi 4 Model B with 4GB RAM running Home Assistant OS (v25.1.1)
- 1TB SSD connected directly via USB
- Add-ons include Studio Code Server, Samba, InfluxDB/Grafana, Music Assistant, WireGuard, AdGuard Home, MQTT Broker & Explorer, Frigate (with a Coral TPU), Vaultwarden (Bitwarden), and Linkwarden
- Average RAM Usage: 60%, with peaks around 80-90%
- Temperature Control: GPIO fan activates when CPU temperature exceeds 60°C
The Problem:
- Connection Drops: The user interface becomes unresponsive, and SSH access is lost. Sometimes it recovers on its own, but other times it doesn’t.
- Recent Worsening: After setting up an old phone as a wall panel (which involved creating a new MQTT user and configuring WallPanel), the issue worsened. The interface became unavailable and couldn’t recover on its own.
- Temporary Fix: Disconnecting the USB hub before rebooting temporarily resolved the issue. However, reconnecting the hub caused the problem to return.
Investigations:
- USB Hub Suspicions: The issue seems to correlate with the SABRENT USB Hub Active 3. Disconnecting it before rebooting allows Home Assistant to boot normally, but reconnecting it later causes instability.
- Coral TPU Impact: The Coral TPU is connected via the USB hub and might be contributing to the problem, though I’m not certain.
Questions and Requests:
- Could the USB hub be the root cause of the instability?
- Are there any configuration changes or troubleshooting steps I can take to stabilize Home Assistant?
- Would switching to a different USB hub or power supply help?
I’d greatly appreciate any insights or suggestions from the community. Thanks in advance for your help!